The Hex Bots
by Zamrous797
Summary: After failing concert attendance the Hex Girls' manger Gus Boggs decides to take a rather drastic measure to ensure his band doesn't go down the rabbit hole. Attracting the attention of WOOHP at the sudden inadequately explained change in the band's appearance, dispatching the spies to investigate as they suspect something sinister to be going on.
1. Chapter 1

His band's finances were not looking good. Concert ticket sales, CD sales and merchandise sales were all down and showed no signs of going back up any time soon. Gothic rock was out now, and space disco was, albeit bizarrely, back. A change of musical genre was needed, at least temporarily for the band to survive. Yet try as he might, Gus Boggs could not convince the Hex Girls to do so.

They kept saying it was just a temporary thing; space disco coming back was just a brief retro fad. They kept saying themselves and the band brand as a whole could endure it.

Gus however knew better. Sure it was just a fad, but it'd be lasting a few years minimum. And the band did not have enough cash to burn keeping going till those years past. Yet the Hex Girls kept refusing to even briefly entertain the idea of the much needed genre switch. Apparently being in the music business longer than they'd been alive counted for nothing in their eyes! Nothing at all! If things kept going the way they were the band wouldn't be making a profit much longer, meaning the band itself wouldn't last much longer. If they didn't agree to change genre soon he would need to take drastic measures.

The Hex Girls' manager's thoughts were then broken by the sound of the tour bus's door being opened, as his band entered the bus.

"Ah darlings, where were you?" asked Gus as the three gothic rockstars entered the room. "I was just about to go looking for you." He lied.

"We were autographing some stuff for some of the employees at the concert hall." answered Luna as they walked over and sat down on the dark red couch.

"Yeah they were fans of us." added Dusk.

"Nice to know we still have some." muttered Thorn as she crossed her arms, obviously annoyed at the low turnout at the concert.

"Speaking of the low turnout chicklets." began Gus, weaving a quick lie to justify bringing up the genre change again. "I was just conversing with a chum of mine who I worked with in the 70s, and both think that…

"No Gus." interupted Thorn in annoyance. "We are not doing a space disco album."

"Yeah, it's silly." added Dusk dismissively.

"And it doesn't fit with the whole spooky vampiric witch theme we have going on." added Luna, albeit a bit less aggressively than her fellow Hex Girls.

"Ok I admit it. Space disco is indeed silly and it doesn't fit with your established theme." said Gus as he held his hands up in agreement. "But it's what's popular right now chicklets. Gotta keep with the beat or you'll end up going down the rabbit hole."

"I don't give a shit what's popular." said Thorn with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Space disco is a temporary fad. It won't last long, and when it is over people will come flocking back to our concerts."

"Like retro fashion fads." added Dusk helpfully.

"Exactly. So just give it up Gus and stop worrying about our popularity." said Thorn as she crossed her legs and laid back against the couch, the very portrait of gothic relaxation. "Our fans will come back. No one can stay away from our concerts, and me, for long." A smirk gracing her pale features as she said, and me.

"But…" began Gus.

"The Hex Girls are not going to do a space disco album, concert or even a single song." said Thorn authoritively as she looked directly at the manager with her piercing green eyes. "Nor are we going to need to. Got it?"

"Got it." replied Gus with a sigh, once his prized singer made up her mind you weren't going to change it easily. Looks like it was best to drop conversation as a way of convincing the girls, as he obviously was making no progress on that front. Looks like it was time for drastic measures, he'd have to make a call to an old friend.

"Good." acknowledged Thorn, obviously please at having asserted her authority. "Don't bring it up again."

* * *

A day later…

* * *

Ring ring! Ring ring!

Professor Kaufman frowned in annoyance. Why did the phone have to always ring when he was doing something important?

"I'll get it Professor Kaufman!" he heard Eric Staufer, his star pupil say. Or former star pupil as he was now officially his research assistant, employed directly by the university.

"Thank you Eric!" called back the professor, keen to continue observing his simulation.

"It's for you Professor!" replied Eric a few seconds after picking the phone up.

"Of course it is." grumbled Kaufman as he reluctantly left his simulation and walked over towards the desk where the landline phone sat, receiver in his assistants hand. As he took the phone from him the Professor said "Thank you Eric. Keep an eye on the simulation till I'm done with this."

"Yes Professor." replied Eric, before swiftly moving to go do just that. The lab assistant having obviously picked up on his irritation at the intrusion to his work.

"Who is it?" asked Kaufman as he put the phone to his ear.

"Nice to hear you too Professor Kaufman. It's me, Gus." replied a voice via the telephone.

"Oh Gus. Been awhile since I've heard from you." said the Professor, irritation fading slightly at hearing one of his favourite former students. Even though Gus had later decided to pursue a career in the music industry instead of science they still got on well. "How've you been?"

"I've been doing good." answered Gus. "Though I do have a slight ittle wittle problem you could help me with?"

"What is it?" inquired Kaufman.

"It is an issue I'm having with the band I currently manage, the Hex Girls. You see…" began Gus before Kaufman cut him off.

"I'm afraid I won't be much help there my friend." said Kaufman apologetically as he cut Gus off mid-sentence. "Music and its associations are not something I'm known much about."

"Ah but you can help Professor. Remember the experiments into suggestion we carried out back in the day?" asked Gus.

"Indeed. Was certainly an interesting route of study." answered Kaufman, his mind going back to that time. "Shame the results were only temporary, lasted a few days if memory serves correct, outside the range of the device in all but the most suggestible individuals. There was real potential in that project."

"Well I want to request you send me the equipment we used. The darlings I manage are being highly resistant to even discussion of taking a much needed genre change." said Gus. "Without it I doubt the band will last much longer."

"Ah I see." said Kaufman, after brief thought he continued. "Well I have no use for those pieces of equipment anymore. I'll send them off to this week."

"Thank you Professor, you've always been too kind." thanked Gus. "Anyway as we're both busy men I'll be going now. I imagine you have some project going on you needed to get back to."

"Indeed I do." replied Kaufman with a brief chuckle. "Bye Gus."

"Bye Professor." said Gus, and with that he hung up. Kaufman then put down the phone and began walking back over to his simulation when a thought hit him. Musicians, people commonly listen to music via portable devices now, often via headphones. Portability and headphones.

Eureka!

Looks like he had some reinventing of a former invention to do.

* * *

A week later…

* * *

Gus tapped his feet impatiently as he waited at the desk of the post office. How long did it take to find a parcel? It wasn't like his name was super common, shouldn't be hard to find a bloody parcel with his name on it.

"Here's your parcel Mr. Boogs." said the desk clerk, having silently returned whilst the manager had been ranting in his head.

"Thank you darling." said Gus as he took the parcel, swiftly turning on his heel and heading towards the front door. He wanted to get back to the tour bus in good time, thus allowing him to have everything set up before the Hex Girls finished today's concert.

Which, provided his plan worked, would be their last concert with a low turnout.

* * *

A few minutes later…

* * *

The tour bus was completely empty as Gus entered it, just as he had planned. He walked all the way to the back of the bus, grabbing a pair of scissors from a cupboard on the way, and sat down on one of the couches.

Without a moment's pause he began cutting open the parcel, the tape keeping the flaps secure being swiftly removed. The manager then pulled open the flaps and looked inside the box...becoming confused and underwhelmed by its contents.

Inside were three headphones in different colour schemes, one red and black, one green and one purple. The green and purple headsets were just like any old pair of headphones, bar the single antenna sticking out of the right headphone. The red and black was also quite like a normal set of headphones, but it differed from the other two sets by how each headphone had an antenna sticking out of it. There was also what looked like a TV remote, except there was only three buttons (one red, white and one blue) and a small microphone built into it. Three were in the box too, one end a USB plug and the other a main socket plug. A small notebook was the only other item in the box.

Gus took the items out of the box and laid them on the couch next to him, not entirely sure what to do. He'd been expecting some small speakers, a ton of thick wires and a little control box, not three fancy headphones and a TV remote lookalike.

Though he was being too hasty to judge. Kaufman could have quite possibly modified the device a bit since Gus had been a student of his. After all the professor never seemed to stop tinkering with his old inventions, even after they were officially discontinued.

He then picked up the notebook, no doubt it'd have some notes about the set of headphones and remote in it:

_So no doubt the first thing you noticed Gus is that what I sent you looks nothing like the device you and me worked on way back when. Well my old student the people you wanted to use the device on inadvertently gave me a bit of inspiration. Train of thought went along the lines of: The three of them are musicians/rockstars, people commonly listen to music via portable devices now, and they hear the music/sound via headphones. Headphones! It was a real eureka moment. A fantastic replacement for the clunky old setup our device had originally. _

_Anyway headphones are essentially just small portable speakers. It makes much more logical sense to have the device use headphones instead of speakers, especially nowadays with the advances in technology allowing the device (or in this case, devices) to be controlled wirelessly. Much more simple than having to connect the speakers up to a control box, no wires lying about the room. Using headphones not only also makes the commands issued more effective, but also more permanent. The commands can be issued at any time, unlike before where they could only be issued within range of the speakers (which as you remember was quite small). This also means there's no worries about the effects fading whilst the subject is away from the speakers either, as the headphones' portability allows them to be worn at any time (including in water due to them being waterproof). Subsequently meaning they can constantly reinforce commands whilst also blocking out all other sounds which would interfere with the device. I have named the new devices the Hypnophones. Cheesy but undeniably very self-explanatory as to what they do. _

_This notebook is a guide to how the hypnophones work. A user's manual so to speak. _

_We'll get into the details of how the new modified device/s works later in this notebook, but for now I'll give you a brief overview of how the hypnophones work so you can understand further sections easier. _

_First off there are two different types of hypnophones. The red and black hypnophones are the transmitter hypnophones, it is what connects all three pairs of hypnophones together and is what allows you to issue commands to the subject wearing them and another other subjects wearing hypnophones within range. The green hypnophones and purple hypnophones are the receiver hypnophones, which as the name implies can only receive signals rather than send them. I'll get to the specifics of them later, but for now just remember to NOT MIX THEM UP! _

_Commands are sent by pressing the blue button down on the remote and speaking into the microphone. When you release the blue button the command will be transmitted. SO DON'T ACCIDENTLY TAKE YOUR FINGER OFF THE BLUE BUTTON WHEN ISSUING A COMMAND, AS IT WOULD ISSUE AN INCOMPLETE COMMAND WHICH COULD CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE SUBJECT'S MIND! _

_The white button is only to be used when you first turn on the hypnophones. Pressing it will begin their conditioning of the subjects (more on that later), hence it only being needed to be used once since the hypnophones never need to be turned off once activated (until of course you no longer have need of them). Thus no need to condition the subject more than once. _

_And the red button simply turns the hypnophones off. Simple. _

_When you release the button it sends your spoken command to the transmitter hypnophones. The command is then more or less instantaneously issued to the subject (viaing playing through the headphone speaker of the hypnophones) wearing the transmitter hypnophones, you'll be able to see exactly when they have been transmitted as the little bulb at the end of each antenna will flash green, which indicates the command has been transmitted to the two subjects wearing the receiver hypnophones, whom will be issued your command a second after it is issued to the subject wearing the transmitter hypnophones. This does mean the subject wearing the transmitter hypnophones will perform the desired command a few seconds before the other two subjects, so keep that in mind when issuing commands. _

_The battery power of both the control remote and hypnophones is obviously not infinite. Whilst you can simply change the batteries of the control remote with ease the hypnophones' specialized batteries require themselves to be recharged rather than replaced. All you need to do to recharge them is plug the USB end of one of the cables into the bottom of the left headphone and then plug the other end into an electrical outlet. Recharging will begin almost immediately, which will be indicated but the lights on the ends of the hypnophones' antennas flashing yellow. When it shines red that indicates the hypnophones (and by connection the subject, but we'll get to that later) is fully charged. Quite simple really. They should also be in full charge upon arrival, though after they condition the subjects it would be best to use have them undergo a recharge just in case. _

_Now onto the complexities of the hypnophones. _

_First off, how the hypnophones condition the subjects to receive and obey commands, and subsequently how (if wished) you can turn the subject back to their pre-condition state…_


	2. Chapter 2

Finally he was ready to put his plan into action. He'd read the manual through twice, had memorized the important bits, had the hypnophones ready and had come up with a lie to get Thorn, Dusk and Luna to try them on.

Only thing which was missing now was the Hex Girls themselves, whom were still preforming a concert. So only thing to do now was wait for them to return to the bus…

* * *

Fifteen minutes later…

* * *

"Hey Gus." greeted Thorn as she entered the backroom of the tour bus, Dusk and Luna following in behind her.

"Hello girls. Concert went well I hope?" inquired Gus.

"Yeah, bigger crowd than the last one." replied Luna as Thorn sat down lazily on the couch, tired as she always was after a concert.

"Definitely." agreed Thorn as her sisters sat down either side of her. It had been nice to see an almost packed concert hall again. Not only did it cause her to get way more into her performance, but it also proved her right and Gus wrong. There was no need to resort to doing a space disco album, song or performance at all.

And Thorn loved being proven right.

"Absolutely fantastic to hear darlings." said Gus in reply, annoyingly cheerful as always. Something Thorn had learnt to live with.

"Hey what are those?" asked Dusk, pointing over at three headsets lying next to their manager that Thorn hadn't noticed previously. One pair was red and black, one green and one purple…the same colours as their chosen outfits. That couldn't be a coincidence.

And oddly they all had antennas on them…

"Ah those are some headphones we got sent chicklet. The manufacturer wants you to try them out, you now get a review by someone famous and all that." answered Gus, who Thorn noticed seemed ever so slightly nervous as he spoke. Odd as he was usually obviously confident. "They'll pay of course too."

"We don't do review deals Gus." answered Thorn. "We're honest remember."

"Yeah we aren't some whore of Hollywood." added Dusk.

"I know girls, I know! But the company is offering a very generous some of money. " replied Gus defensively.

"Besides they're already here, may as well at least try them on." said Luna as she yeah over and picked up the purple headphones.

"I guess." agreed Dusk distastefully as she too picked up one of the headphones, naturally the green one.

"Pfft, sell-outs." muttered Thorn as she crossed her arms her and laid back against the couch, whilst her bandmates fiddled with and examined the headphones.

"Oh come on Thorn, they're just headphones." said Luna disapprovingly as she put on the purple headphones, which completely covered her ears. "No need to get a stick up your ass about that."

"Besides, they're surprisingly comfortable." added Dusk, continuing to fiddle with the green headphones.

"Fine." said Thorn after letting out an annoyed sigh, leaning over and grabbing the remaining headphones. Then as Dusk put on the green headphones the guitarist examined her own set.

First thing she noticed was that they were very well built, the headband section bendable yet showing no signs of being likely to break. Second was that the actually headphone bits were rather large and, as shown by the headphones Luna was wearing, would completely cover her ears. Third was that her headphones were different from her sisters'. Unlike the green and purple headphones Thorn's had two antennas, one of either ear piece. She also noticed that there was a small encased LED at the tip of each antenna…which was weird.

Thorn then put the headphones on, being instantly surprised by how silent it became. The headphone's ear pieces cupped her ears fully with a suction cup-like seal against her skin. She couldn't hear anything at all. Not even her own breathing.

It was a bit eerie in a way, though they'd certainly make for good headphones. There would be no need to turn up your headphones loud to block other noise when you couldn't hear anything other than what would be playing through the speakers. Which'd also mean no more annoying other people by having your music too loud.

Then, just as she looked over at Gus, she felt something like a strong electric shock go through her body. Subsequently causing her body to convulse and spasm without her control. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the same thing happened to Dusk and Luna, a second or so after it happened to her.

She continued to shake and convulse for about thirty seconds. Then as quickly as it had started the electric shock stopped. Thorn was stunned and confused, what the fuck had just happened? Why the hell did the headphones just electrocute her?

The guitarist then went to rip off the headphones, only to discover she couldn't move her arms or…her other limbs for that matter. She couldn't even move her eyes, they were stuck staring directly ahead of her at the empty couch where Gus had been sitting. Her body stuck sitting in a stiff upright posture, hands resting on her lap.

She was completely paralysed.

It genuinely scared Thorn. She was completely helpless, unable to move and unable to hear anything at all. And to top it off she had no clue what was happening at all.

Then all of a sudden she began to hear some kind of binaural beat. Repeating over and over again at a steady pace, though getting gradually louder with each cycle.

Boom, boom boom. Boom, boom boom. Boom, boom boom.

The steady rhythm of the binaural beats made her feel calmer. It was reassuring being able to hear something other than absolute silence.

Then other sounds were audible, various beeps and ringing tones. All of which followed the same steady pace and pattern as the booms as they repeated over and over again. In combination with the booms it was oddly relaxing...and made it hard to stay focused.

Why was she angry again? Something about headphones wasn't it?

No that wasn't it…was it?

Then Thorn heard what sounded like words, though the only words she could distinctly make out amongst the echoing booms and beeps were command, blank, relax, obey, feel and eyes. But the guitarist could draw no conclusion from them; nothing seemed to connect them together.

She was finding it hard enough to keep a coherent thought as she was bombarded with the binaural booms, beeps and tones, yet alone try find meaning in a bunch of random words.

Not that it mattered. The sounds were relaxing regardless…so very very relaxing…

* * *

Two hours later…

* * *

Thorn's eyes were still staring directly ahead of her in a trance like state, though now she saw nothing…consciously at least for her conscious mind had given in to the binaural sounds and suggestions long ago and fallen into a deep slumber. Yet her unconscious mind was awake and open, especially now that her mental barriers had been eroded away into dust. Meaning the hypnotic suggestions she was being bombarded with went in and were accepted without any resistance.

"Any command you hear, you shall obey."

"Your mind is blank."

"You obey anything you hear."

"You are very relaxed."

"You do not think, you hear and obey."

"The only thoughts in your mind are to obey whatever you are told."

Those and other similar phrases repeated over and over again in no particular order. Thorn had given in to what they said long ago. The voice was right, it was so much easier and relaxing to just listen and obey. So much easier than resisting…

Dusk was in the same state as the guitarist, having given in around the same time. Luna however was not.

The orange haired dark skinned young woman was continuing to resist, even after an hour of listening to the relaxing sounds and the phrases she was being bombarded with. It was hard going, she'd almost slipped into trance a couple times, but she was succeeding so far. As for how long she could manage that though was up for debate however. What Luna did know however was that she was not going to let herself be brainwashed, for that's what the headphones appeared to be trying to do, without putting up a fight.

Luna kept trying to move her arms and hands. If she could manage that then she could rip the headphones from her head and be free to do the same to Thorn and Dusk.

"You are very relaxed."

"The only thoughts in your mind are to obey whatever you are told."

"You obey anything you hear."

"Relax and obey."

"Your mind is blank."

"You do not think, you relax and obey."

Droned on the voice, but Luna ignored it as best she could. She had to focus on trying to move her arms and hands, if she managed to do that then…she did it! She felt the fingers of her right hand move!

Then her right hand itself! And then her arm!

She'd done it, through sheer force of will she'd beaten the headphones!

Then Luna began the gruelling process of raising her arm, mentally fighting for every inch it moved. But eventually she managed to get her hand up to the headphones and grab them, before ripping them off and chucking them across the room, where they clattered to the ground.

Luna then swiftly turned to grab the headphones off Thorn's head too, intent on ripping them off her sister's head like she had done with her own pair.

However her hand never reached Thorn's headphones…for it had been grabbed mid-movement by Thorn, who slowly and mechanically turned to face Luna. The guitarist's expression lacked any emotion, her eyes blank and glassy.

"Thorn? What are you…" began questioning Luna before the guitarist shoved her, causing her to fall onto her back on the couch.

Thorn then turned to face directly forward and stood up, Dusk following suit a half second later. The guitarist then walked stiffly, almost mechanically, over to where Luna had thrown her headphones whilst Dusk walked over to where Luna lay on the couch and sat down on her legs. The drummer then grabbed Luna's arms and pinned them down tightly against the couch, her expression emotionless and eyes blank just like Thorn's.

Luna was just about to ask what was going on when she saw Thorn walking back over to them, purple headphones in hand. At that point it hit Luna.

Their headphones which were controlling them were using them to put the headphones back on her and continue her brainwashing. That's why Thorn had prevented her from removing the headphones from her head and shoved her. It was also why Dusk had straddled and pinned her to the couch, so she couldn't prevent them from putting the headphones back on her.

"Please Thorn, don't do it!" begged Luna as Thorn walked back over to them, becoming frightened as her sister bent down towards her with the headphones.

"Thorn resist it! Please!" continued Luna as she begged in desperation as she attempted to dislodge Dusk's grip. But it was to no avail, the drummer's grip on her was as unmoving as a steel girder.

"Re-lax Lu-na." said Thorn, her voice monotone and robotic. "Re-lax and gi-ve in."

"Re-lax-ing is so mu-ch bet-ter th-an res-ist-ing." said Dusk, her voice equally robotic.

"No stop!" begged Luna as she thrashed her head around, trying to prevent Thorn from putting the headphones back on her head.

Unfortunately it was futile as Thorn, oblivious to Luna's begging, managed to slip the headphones back on the orange haired girl's head regardless. She then kept her hands on each side of the headphones, ensuring they would stay on her sister's head.

Luna knew her brainwashed sister had succeeded in putting the headphones back on her when everything went silent. Once more she could hear nothing, even as she begged both Thorn and Dusk to release her.

Then she felt the familiar electric shock go through her body, only this time it felt much stronger than before. As Luna spasmed under Dusk's grip she could see her sisters staring at her, both their faces blank and emotionless. Their eyes glassy and oblivious to her plight.

Then after what felt like several minutes (but was really only one) the electric shock stopped. Luna would've breathed a sigh of relief if not for the fact she was paralysed once again.

Dusk then released her and stood up, moving back to her original position on the opposite side of the couch. Thorn then let go of the headphones and stood up aswell, following her sister in moving back to her original position. Each hex girl was staring forward blankly, posture stiffly upright and their hands resting neatly in their laps.

Boom, boom boom. Boom, boom boom.

Luna began preparing herself to mentally block out the binaural beats once more. Except unlike before she couldn't completely block them out, as this time their volume was much higher than it hand been before. That and her strength was sapped after that long paralysing shock she'd undergone. Then the voices began playing again.

"You are very relaxed, and so very tired."

"You want to rest. You want to relax."

"Let go and relax."

"So very tired."

"Relax and rest."

"Let go and relax."

Luna would've yawned if she hadn't been paralysed. The voice was right, she was tired. Especially after all the thrashing she'd done under Dusk and the electric shock she'd been subjected too.

"Relax and rest."

"Let go and relax."

"So much easier to relax than resist."

"So very tired."

It was true…it was so much easier to relax than resist. Why would she want to resist when all the beats and other noises she was hearing were so very relaxing?

"Relax and rest."

"So very tired."

Especially when she was so tired…so very tired…

* * *

Two more hours later…

* * *

Gus couldn't help but smile as he entered the back room of the tour bus. It was so refreshing to not hear arguing, whining or demands for him to get things as he entered it. This was a change he could get used too.

Then the manager turned his attention to his employers. The three hex girls were as he had left them four hours earlier, sitting up straight as a board whilst staring directly forward with their hands resting in their laps. It was quite a beautiful sight, so much more ladylike than lazily lying back against the couch like they usually would be doing.

He then walked over to them and then knelt down in front of Thorn. He raised his hand and waved it in front of her face, smirking at how her glassy blank eyes did not move in response to it. Neither did she respond when he pinched her porcelain cheek. Looked like the hypnophones had worked perfectly on his prized lead singer, her mind was well and truly gone and with it her divaish attitude.

The same could be said for Dusk and Luna as well, who responded the same way Thorn had to him waving his hand in front of their faces and pinching their cheeks. Or rather did not respond as it were.

Sure enough it looked like his prized musicians were well and truly out of it, so to speak. But just to make absolutely sure he raised his hand and slapped Dusk hard across the right cheek. There was no response except for the natural recoiling of her head at the sudden slap, before moving back into its previous position.

Yep their minds were well and truly gone alright, or at least Dusk's certainly was. If he had ever slapped her like that, or at all, before she'd put on the hypnophones she'd have been lunging for his throat. But now instead the drummer just sat there and took it, not even physically or mentally registering the blow to her face.

The band managed then smirked and delivered a few more slaps to Dusk's cheeks, alternating between the two. Yes they were unnecessary, as he had already clearly proven that the blonde's mind was well and truly gone, but he felt it was deserved payback for all the time's Dusk had been bratty or bitchy towards him. Sure Dusk wouldn't feel any of the slaps, but it nevertheless felt good to do regardless.

Gus then stood up and back from the three mindless musicians and took out the hypnophones remote from his trouser pocket. This was going to be fun, but first he had some ever so minor bits of programming to do to his band.

"Girls can you hear me?" asked Gus, speaking into the remote's built in microphone.

"Yes." answered Thorn monotonously.

"Yes." answered Dusk and Luna in equal monotone a second later.

"Girls when I give you an order you will respond by saying yes Manager." ordered Gus into the remote. "Understand?"

"Yes Manager." answered Thorn.

"Yes Manager." answered Dusk and Luna a second later.

"Thorn, when I issue a command to all of you at once you shall do what I commanded a second after it has been transmitted to you. So that you follow it at the same time as Dusk and Luna." ordered Gus. "Understand?"

"Yes Manager." answered Thorn, her expression still entirely blank.

Now came the fun part.

"Stand up." ordered Gus.

"Yes Manager." said each Hex Girls in unison as they all stood up from their formerly seated position. Their posture was stiff and firm, legs together and arms at their sides as if they were soldiers standing to attention. Each of their glassy eyes staring dead ahead of them in a zombie-like manner.

In an odd way Gus thought the three gothic musicians looked rather beautiful that way. Yes, they were obviously beautiful to begin with but something about the posture, obedience and even the emptiness of their expressions added a different sort of beauty. It was hard to explain…

Of course the lack of any expression and completely blank eyes was also a tad bit creepy. Though to be fair the Hex Girls had been a bit creepy beforehand anyway. Hence Gus was barely fazed by it, after all if you're used to someone being creepy them being a little bit creepier won't make much of a difference.

"Salute." ordered Gus into the remote's speaker, breaking the silence which had descended upon the room.

"Yes Manager." said the three Hex Girls monotonously as they all saluted their manager in unison, not even a millisecond out of sync. Their expressions remaining blank even as Gus smirked at the sight of them obeying him so compliantly, without a single thought or complaint.

This was definitely going to be a lot of fun.

"Act like chickens." ordered Gus, unable to resisting giving the most stereotypical command issued to people under hypnosis.

"Yes Manager." said the three gothic musicians. They then proceeded bent over slightly whilst flapping their arms and walked around aimlessly whilst saying "Bawk! Bawk!" causing Gus to laugh at the sight. It may be stereotypical, but it was indeed amusing. Would be humiliating too if the three young women were conscious of what they were doing, but alas they were not.

"Stop acting like chickens." ordered Gus after a few minutes had passed and he had grown bored of watching the three women act so silly for his amusement.

"Yes Manager." said each Hex Girl as they stopped their previous actions and stood up straight to attention once more.

"Stick your arms out straight ahead of you." ordered Gus.

"Yes Manager." said the three Hex Girls as they all stuck their arms out in front of them, now causing them to look like three gothic zombies.

"Now walk around the room in a circle, Thorn leading with Dusk following behind her and Luna following behind Dusk." ordered Gus as he sat down on the couch opposite the one the Hex Girls had formerly been sitting on.

"Yes Manager." said the Hex Girls once more, before they began walking around the room as instructed by their manager. The only sounds in the room being the clicks of Thorn's high heels and the thumps of Dusk's and Luna's boots as they made contact with the floor.

"And now you repeat the words, we are obedient and compliant, aloud as you walk around in a circle." ordered Gus.

"Yes Manager." said the three gothic musicians yet again, before proceeding to obey his command.

"We are obedient and compliant…..We are obedient and compliant…..We are obedient and compliant…..We are obedient and compliant…We are obedient and compliant….." repeated the Hex Girls over and over again, with only brief pauses to breath in between the reciting of the mantra.

Gus then leant back against the couch, watching as his band continued to parade around in a circle like mindless zombies. It was both amusing; given the fact not one of the Hex Girls would do this normally of their own accord, and empowering. Having three young incredibly attractive women completely under your complete and utter control was quite the power trip. Even more so when you factored in that they were famous rockstars.

It was also admittedly a tad bit arousing too. Given that he could command any of them to do anything wished and they would obey the command without a single thought or hesitation, including anything of a sexual nature. However Gus was not going to take advantage of that fact. He did have ethics and morals after all.

Admittedly not too many morals or ethics given he had just brainwashed the members of the band he managed against their will, betraying their trust in him in the process and turning them into what were now essentially mindless zombies. But he wasn't going to go against the few remaining morals he did have, one of which was not sexually taking advantage of inhibited women.

Even if it was pretty tempting…

No! Instead now he had his plan for future of the Hex Girls as a band and brand to think about. Step one, brainwashed the band, was over and done with far easier than he'd expected it to be.

Step two was harder, come up with a new theme for the band revolving around the whole space disco comeback.

"We are obedient and compliant…..We are obedient and compliant…..We are obedient and compliant….."

Gus looked up at his mindless musicians in thought for a few seconds, and then it hit him. Space disco's aesthetic was themed around futuristic themes. The Hex Girls were now 100% obedient to him and obeyed any orders he issued them. And what was futuristic and obeyed any command it is given?

Robots.

That was it. From now on the Hex Girls as a band, as a brand and as people were no more.

Now instead they were the Hex Bots.

His Hex Bots.


	3. Chapter 3

A week later…

* * *

A car pulled up and parked outside a small yet expensive looking Googie (think 60s retro-futuristic style architecture) style house in the north of Florida. The house stood out in how its red zig-zag designed roof clashed with the white of its walls.

Out of the car stepped a petite young woman. She was wearing a light blue long sleeve top, a beige skirt and a simple pair of black flats. Slung over her shoulder was a medium sized handbag, a similar yet not quite the same shade of light blue as her top. Her name was Sarah, a seamstress and fashion designer by trade.

She walked at quick pace up the steps to the front door of the house, frowning as she had to stand on her tip toes to reach the doorbell due to having being placed higher on the wall than her body reached. A simple light ring went out when she pressed it, and the front door was opened shortly after.

"Ah Sarah, welcome! Come in darling!" greeted Gus Boggs excitedly; much like he had done the last time Sarah had done business with him. The band manager had been a regular customer of her's for several years, making outfits for music videos for the band he'd managed over the years she'd known him.

"Hi Gus." replied Sarah politely as she stepped into the house, glad to be out of the hot summer air. "So what's outfit do you want me to make for you this time?"

"Oh very special one. Aesthetically retro yet also alternative." commented Gus as he led her into a side room, where a labeled sketch laid on an easel. He then extravagantly pointed to it with a grin on his face. "Tah dah! What do you think?"

Sarah examined the sketch before her. It was of a non-descript female, whose outfit's influences were obvious. It looked very similar to outfits wore in old shows or comics set in the future, like something out of the jetsons. Form hugging, painful looking high heels and a large hoop skirt. Yep definitely in that style. Though it looked more like a fembot would wear than an actual female human.

"It's a simple yet aesthetically very well designed outfit." answered Sarah, her voice full of praise. "Should be rather simple for me and my team to make."

"Ah excellent my dear. Though I have a few specifics which may make it a tiny tad harder to construct." said Gus, obviously pleased with the praise his design had received.

"And what might those be?" asked Sarah curiously.

"I want the outfit to be entirely made of metal. Ever last bit!" declared Gus.

"What? Why?" asked Sarah in confusion. An outfit like that made out of metal would weigh a ton! It'd be like wearing medieval armour.

"Authenticity my dear! You remember my band don't you, the Hex Girls? Of course you do. Anyway they were insistent, utterly insistent I tell you that the outfit be made of metal. They're reinventing the band with a retro-futuristic style to cash in on the surprise revival of space disco, plan to style themselves like robots. They left most of the design to me yet they were insistent that the outfit had to be made out of metal." answered Gus charismatically.

"Oh…I suppose that makes sense. They were a bit eccentric when I met them before." commented Sarah, having accepted the band manager's explanation for the odd choice in materials for the outfit. "Though it's going to cost a hell of a lot. I'll have to contract outside work for this!"

"My darling I assure you money is no issue. They're rockstars, they can afford it." answered Gus with a smile. "As can I."

"Well in that case I'm looking forward to it. I'll be a fun challenge." replied Sarah excitedly. Making metal clothing, that was something she hadn't done before.

"Excellent my dear! Just excellent!" replied Gus as he walked out of the room, Sarah following suit.

"Of course I will need to take your band's measurements!" reminded Sarah. "Can't make an outfit without measurements. They'll have to be nude too…since you know precise measurements are needed for a formfitting outfit like that…" The seamstress stumbling nervously over her last couple words.

"Naturally my little chicklet." said Gus as he stopped in front of a door, smiling reassuringly. "The groovy gothic chicklets are in there waiting for just that. Though they're not in the best state currently. Not only are they quite fatigued from their recent tour, but the poor dears have also come down with some throat infection. So they haven't been moving that much, and since they know why you're here they probably won't speak to you either, too painful sadly. The dears will probably just sit there like quietly like stone statues whilst you measure them."

"That's terrible! Have you taken them to see a doctor!" exclaimed Sarah, worried for the rockstars health.

"Of course, but alas it appears it's one of those illnesses where you just have to wait for it to pass." replied Gus, his expression pitiful. "Has put them in an utterly dreadful mood to boot. So I'd advise just doing what you're here to do and measuring them rather than talking to them or anything like that. Don't want you to get snapped at by them. You know how divaish rockstars can be normally, it's like that turned up to eleven."

"Oh, well I'll try not to make it worse then." said Sarah a bit timidly.

"That a girl. I'll leave you to get on with your work then." said Gus before he walked back up the corridor and entered a room, Sarah following suit and opening the door to the lounge where the Hex Girls would be awaiting her measuring them.

* * *

Gus couldn't help but chuckle to himself. That had been far too easy.

Sure Sarah wasn't exactly the brightest bulb in the box, that was why he'd picked her for the job, but she'd fallen for his explanations hook line and sinker.

An outfit made of metal which looked utterly unlike anything the Hex Girls would ever willingly wear. Fatigued to such an extent where they would sit like stone statues yet a doctor said they just had to wait it out. Both ridiculous explanations to anyone with a brain, but dear Sarah was a bit lacking in that department. The only thing believable was the throat infection, and even if the girls had one they'd at least say a couple words. Hard not to when some woman you've only seen a few times is measuring your nude body.

The band manager then sat down in an expensive swivel chair at his desk and booted up his computer. He had laughed at the poor seamstress at enough. Now he had some work to do. He'd covered up the fact the Hex Girls would be out of public eye whilst he changed them into his Hex Bots with a simple cover story that they were going on holiday, to Asia to be exact. Thus to keep up the act every couple days he posted a photoshopped picture or two on their Twitter and Instagram accounts along with a brief message, to keep up the illusion and the like. Then once their fake holiday was done he'd posted something on Thorn's account and how they were taking a brief break to reinvent themselves…simple yet he knew the public and media would fall for it. The former was distracted easily and the later was just plain stupid.

If things went according to plan the time he spent doing this would be well worth it. Both in creating himself an easy to manage band and making a lot more money.

After all the girls were now his Hex Bots. And you don't need to pay robots, do you?

* * *

The first thing which struck Sarah when she entered the room was that it was dead quiet, the sole audible sound being the sound of her footfalls as she walked into the room.

The room itself was a simple modernist style room. All the walls were white and scant of decorative features, as was the ceiling, and the floor was laminated light coloured wood. A couple blue couches and armchairs were placed around the room, angled so when seated on them you could see the flat screen TV on the far side of the room. A few coffee tables were placed in between the couches and armchairs and in the corners of the room were a few tall potted plants. The room was lit by four rectangular ceiling lights, emulating sunlight near perfectly.

On a couch off to the side of the room were seated the Hex Girls. Each of the musicians was still up straight and did not move an inch. They were each void of clothing, save the odd looking headphones each of them wore.

Sarah was a bit creeped out by the sight at first, given none of the three young women reacted when she entered the room and began walking over to them. Sure she had a perfectly good explanation as to why from Gus, but it was still creepy. She felt sorry for them, must be horrible to be as sick as that yet have no choice but to just sit and endure it.

However she put those thoughts aside as she put down her bag and took out her tape measure, notepad and pen. Then she got down to work.

* * *

Half an hour later…

* * *

Gus was just browsing a news site, having finished posting the fake updates to each Hex Girl's Twitter and Instagram accounts, when he heard the sound of a door in the corridor opening and shutting. Ah, Sarah was finally done.

As he got up to go meet her he picked up the hypnophones remote and said "Redress girls." Then he slipped into his pocket and exited his study.

"Ah Sarah darling. All finished I presume?" inquired Gus upon exiting his study.

"Yep, got all the measurements I should need to make the outfits to your specifications." answered Sarah, after momentarily being startled by Gus's sudden entrance into the hallway.

"Excellent." replied Gus.

"Anyway I would chat more but I just remembered I have another client to see in an hour." said Sarah, whom Gus now noticed appeared to be in a rush.

"Well I won't keep you then my dear." said Gus as he walked down the hallway with her to the front door. Once he had unlocked and opened it he flamboyantly motioned for Sarah to walk through it.

"Bye Gus." said Sarah as she did so. "Thanks for the exciting outfits to create."

"Goodbye and you're very welcome my darling. I'll be eagerly awaiting the finals products." replied Gus, before swiftly shutting and locking the front door of his house behind her.

The band manager then turned and walked back up the hallway to the living room, where his Hex Bots were awaiting him.

* * *

About one month later…

* * *

Gus was typing away at his computer posting yet more fake updates to the Hex Girls's Twitter and Instagram accounts when he heard the doorbell ring. He immediately leapt to his feet in excitement. If this was what he thought it was, their new outfits, then he could finally move onto the next steps of reinventing his band!

Since Gus had tricked the Hex Girls into putting the hypnophones on themselves and Sarah had come to measure them he'd done little with them. Not much point in starting the reinventing of his band when they didn't have their new outfits yet. So instead he'd had them confined to his home either mindlessly cleaning the house or maintaining the back garden, or when not doing that just standing to attention like statues in the living room.

Shortly after exciting his study he reached the front door and opened it to reveal he was indeed correct. The postman was there with three sizeable boxes.

"Packages for you Mr. Boggs." said the Postman, as he rummaged in his side pack.

"So I can see." replied Gus, making small talk.

"Well here you go sir." said the Postman as he signed Gus a pad and pen. "Just sign here please." Which Gus did with a few flicks of the pen. "Thank you I'll be on my way now." continued the Postman as he turned to head back down the pathway to his van. "And watch yourself with those packages Mr. Boggs! They're pretty heavy!"

"Thanks for the warning!" yelled back Gus with a smile. That confirmed his assumption, these packages contained the new outfits he'd commissioned for the Hex Girls.

It took a few minutes due to the weight of packages making them quite unwieldy, but eventually Gus moved the three of them into his house and manoeuvred them over to the living room. He then opened each package, smiling ecstatically at the contents. Sarah had certainly done an excellent jobs, each metal piece of the outfit looked just as he'd envisioned them. Now all which was left was to dress his musicians in their new outfits. And then…well and then they'd finally no longer be the Hex Girls, but instead they'd be his Hex Bots.


	4. Chapter 4

Two years later…

* * *

"I still so can't believe Mandy showed up to the dance in not only the same dress as me, but the same boots too!" exclaimed Clover as she walked out of the school gymnasium.

"Yes Clover, we know! You've been telling us that ever since you first spotted her at the dance." replied Alex in annoyance.

"Alex is right Clover. You should really let it go." added Sam in agreement.

Before Clover could reply the three teenage spies each then let out a feminine shriek as the paving stone they were passing over suddenly slid aside, dropping them down a familiar metal pipe. After falling for 20 seconds or so they landed in a pile on an ornate couch which was at odds with the very futuristic looking rest of the room. They'd been WOOHPed to Jerry's office once again.

"Ah hello girls." greeted Jerry from his desk with an amused smile. "Enjoy the dance?"

"Uh no Jer. Not only did Mandy show up to it wearing the same dress as me, but the same boots to!" complained Clover, her repetition of a sentence she'd already said so many times that night irritating Sam immensely.

"Sorry to hear it Clover." said Jerry, his voice neutral. "But I'm afraid we have bigger problems than that." Their boss than tapped a few bottoms on a panel on his desk, bringing a series of pictures up on the screen behind him.

The first was of three girls. One had black hair with red highlights and was wearing a form fitting black dress which had a torn-like design at the bottom, which showed off the bottom of her legs slightly, and had red sleeve like things, a red bat shaped necklace, black fingerless gloves and a simple pair of black high heels. The second had blonde pigtailed hair and was wearing a form fitting; albeit less so than the black haired girl's dress, green dress, an X-shaped necklace, a black studded choker, green triangular ear rings and simple black boots. The third and final girl had circular Siouxsie Sioux-like orange hair and was wearing a purple jacket with its sleeves partially rolled up over a purplish pink shirt, a dark purple hobble skirt which covered her legs completely bar the slit running down its hem, purplish pink fingerless gloves and black high heeled boots. All three girls had very pale skin, though the orange girl's skin was slightly darker than the other two's.

Sam recognized them near instantly. They were the Hex Girls, a goth rock band Clover had been obsessed with a few years ago. Not really her taste but Sam had thought their music was still quite good.

The second was another picture of the Hex Girls. Only this time their outfits were far different, bar having the same colour schemes as they did in the prior pictures. They looked like female robots from a cheesy old sci-fi movie, complete with hoop skirt and an antenna. Covering their eyes and a good bit of their face were visors, coloured the same as their outfits. The only facial features which could be seen were their noses and mouths, no expression detectable. In fact the only way you could tell they were still the Hex Girls was that there hair and lipstick was still the same as it had been in the previous picture.

The third was a graph showing labeled "Concert Attendance" which clearly showed a rather rapid decrease in people attending Hex Girls concerts, starting about two years ago. Then a year and a half ago there was a sudden rise. Finance figures were displayed in several other pictures surrounding the graph.

"Hey that's that goth band Clover was obsessed with." commented Alex.

"I so wasn't obsessed with them." dismissed Clover. "I was just into their music, that's all."

"You also put your hair in pigtails like the blonde one has, began wearing black or dark green dress, studded chokers and wearing bat necklaces." listed off Sam with a smirk, before saying sarcastically. "Totally not obsessed."

"And you had posters of them all of your bedroom walls." added Alex with a laugh.

"That's so not a sign of obsession. It's a sign of devotion." defended Clover.

"Focus ladies, focus." commented Jerry, with a faint smile of amusement on his face.

"Er right. Sorry Jerry." said Alex as the three spies returned their focus to their boss and the screen behind him.

"As you have already noted most of these pictures are of the band known as the Hex Girls. Whilst they achieved great success on their own the band rose wildly in popularity after they began being managed by Gus Boggs, formerly known for managing the one hit wonder known as Fancy Pants." explained Jerry as a picture of Gus appeared on the screen, his face and tone neutral throughout.

"However about two years ago I noticed a change in the band. Out of the blue they completely dropped their goth aesthetic, switching to the sci-fi robot style seen here." continued Jerry, pointing to the picture of the Hex Girls's new outfits as he mentioned it. "The official explanation was that they changed in order to stay more relevant and to take advantage of the renewed popularity of the space disco music genre. Which as you can see from the graphs would make sense, given that it can clearly been seen that there was a definitive decline in attendance at their concerts. Though I have suspicions that it may not be quite as simple as it seems."

That was odd, thought Sam. Jerry had said "I noticed a change", not we or WOOHP investigators. That implied Jerry had been keeping a watch on the band himself, which was odd. Why would the head of WOOHP be investigating a rock band?

"Yeah it was like totally odd." agreed Clover. "One second they all ooky spooky and gothy. The next all roboticky looking."

"Precisely Clover. Even when considering the potential financial reasons for the change it is still quite odd. Take Thorn for instance." said Jerry as he pressed another button on a panel on his desk, bringing up several videos of Thorn being interviewed. "She was often interviewed, happy to pose for magazine covers was always trying and up for being in the spotlight. A Clover if you will."

Their boss then paused briefly, a smile appearing on his face as Sam and Alex giggled and sniggered at his ending comment. Clover just let out an annoyed huff and said "Just get on with it Jer."

"But then after this change in aesthetic, and song style, Thorn declined all interviews. Be they on TV or in any magazine. Her only public exposure has been when the band has been preforming." continued Jerry, his tone turning serious. "That when combined with the aforementioned facts has made me suspicious that this may not just be a case of rockstars reinventing themselves. Potentially something far more sinister may be afoot."

"Umm I have a question." said Sam, having decided to confront her boss about her confusion whilst he had been talking.

"Ask away Sam." replied Jerry, sitting back down in his seat as he spoke.

"Several of your phrases, for example _I noticed a change_, imply that you did the investigating and put together this case yourself." said Sam.

"And? I don't just sit at my desk doing nothing all day you know." defended Jerry, clearly a bit offended.

"That's not what I meant, if you'd let me finish." said Sam, irritated yet again that night.

"My apologises, please continue." apologised Jerry deftly.

"How come you were doing the investigating?" inquired Sam curiously. "The change in aesthetic and behaviour of a goth rock band doesn't seem like nothing the head of WOOHP would be investigating."

"Yeah, now that you mention it that is a bit weird." agreed Alex.

"Not that weird girls. I'm just what you would call a fan of the band." answered Jerry calmly, before quickly adding upon seeing the shocked faces of the three teenage spies. "What! Just because I'm old, listen to classical music, like Shakespeare and the fine arts doesn't mean I don't have modern tastes too."

Well, thought Sam, that certainly explained why Jerry had been doing the investigation himself. And why he had such a large volume of pictures of the Hex Girls on his computer to display on the briefing screen…

Clover then let out a squeal and rushed over from the couch to Jerry's side, embracing him in an awkward hug.

"That's so cool Jerry!" exclaimed Clover. "You should've totally mentioned it sooner! We could've actually talked common interests for once! Like what's your favourite albums."

"Well umm…it never came up in conversation." replied Jerry, obviously unsure of how to respond to the sudden burst of teenage excitement. "And to answer your second question. Their first album, Bat Dreams. Though the album We Bite was also quite good, the track Who Do Voodoo is a definite favourite of mine."

"Eh I preferred the album Entranced myself. But yeah Bat Dreams was totally awesome! I'm a Hex Girl is so one of my favourite songs ever!" replied Clover excitedly.

"It certainly is one of my favourite songs of theirs. Best one to see performed live." agreed Jerry, enthusiasm near equally Clover's in his voice now. "Though I think Earth, Wind, Fire and Air is better. It's still an excellent song yet also has a good message behind it."

"You've seen them live? You so should've told me you were a fan of them sooner! We could've gone to one of their concerts together." questioned Clover.

"Well as I said previously it never came up in conversation." justified Jerry. "Though in retrospect I should have assumed you were a fan when you were dressing like Dusk once." He then laughed. "Whom I presume is your favourite Hex Girl?"

"Yeah you so should've Jerry." replied Clover with a giggle. "And she sure is. She's so badass and cool, yet still pretty at the same time. Who's your favourite one?"

"Well whilst it's certainly hard for me to have to pick a favourite I'd have to pick Thorn. Her voice is incredibly beautiful and, going by the interviews, she seems to be quite the well-spoken lady. And of course…" answered Jerry in admiration, before being interupted by Sam.

"As much as you too are enjoying geeking out about a goth band, some of us would like to actually get a mission done tonight." interupted Sam, her and Alex looking bored.

"Ah yes, of course girls." agreed Jerry, being snapped out of his sudden fanboying/fangirling with Clover. He then took a brief moment to recompose himself, adjusting his tie.

"We've so got to continue this conversation another time Jer." said Clover as she went back to sit on the couch.

"Indeed we shall. But first things first." replied Jerry, before his tone turned serious. "Your mission girls is to investigate the sudden change in the style and mannerisms of the Hex Girls. And if you find something sinister is the cause for the change, which given the aforementioned evidence I highly suspect is the case, put a stop to it."

* * *

Meanwhile at Beverly Hills Memorial Concert Hall

* * *

"Mix it up here in my little bowl, say a few words and you lose control." sang Thorn as she performed the band's signature song for the finale of the concert, pointing to the cheering crowd as she did so. The young woman the crowd saw preforming was happy, flirtatious and energetic. However that was only how she looked physically, mentally it was quite different.

Her mind was completely blank with the sole exception of a single command. Preform concert version 4. And so Thorn followed the set concert routine, singing songs and preforming pre-set choreographed movements. Every one of her sultry smiles to the crowd, flicks of her beautiful black and red hair and points towards the crowd were pre-set. Not even one of them was thought out or done by her own choice.

Nor did the rockstar hear any of the cheers or the occasional wolf-whistle from the crowd. Neither did she consciously see them. For her conscious mind had been switched off, and had been since that day she'd begrudgingly put the hypnophones on herself.

Not that Thorn minded having her conscious mind switched off and her freedom taken from her, given that in exchange she felt so incredibly and utterly relaxed.

Well that and the fact she couldn't mind it since she could no longer form her own thoughts…but who needs details right?

The fact she'd been brainwashed and turned into what was effectively a human robot wasn't the only thing about Thorn which had changed though. Her attire had too.

The skin from her neck all the way down to her ankles was clad in what a appeared to be a form fitting black catsuit with two curved black shoulder pads attached to it; however no zip was visible on it. Over her breasts was a red angular breastplate connected to the two shoulder pads. Around her waist was a medium length black hoop skirt with a red hem and her hands were clad in red gloves. Her feet were encased in a black and red pair of 10 inch wedge high heels. Each piece of attire was made of metal on the outside, with a foam inlay preventing any damage to the soft pale flesh hidden under the metal. The pain that her high heels would've caused and the fatigue from the weight of the metal outfit nullified by the fact Thorn's nociceptors had been blocked along with a lot of other aspects of Thorn's brain. Each piece of her outfit had obviously been recently polished, judging by how brightly the metal shined in the stage lights. Finally she was wearing her slightly altered hypnophones, now having a red visor attached to them. The visor was opaque when viewed from the opposite side to Thorn's eyes, hiding her glassy blank eyes and her true state from any onlooker's view.

Dusk and Luna were much the same. Both of them were in the exact same state as Thorn as they played their drums and keyboard mindlessly behind her. The only different between the two and Thorn was that their attire was coloured differently. Dusk's was all green instead of black and Luna's was all purple instead of black.

Though the band was still called the Hex Girls Thorn, Dusk and Luna weren't really Hex Girls anymore. Instead they were Hex Bots.

Thorn then strummed the last cord of the song, finishing up the performance. The three mindless musicians then waved to the cheering crowd whilst Thorn said "Thank you Beverly Hills! And goodnight!" Then after doing a brief bow they turned and walked off the edge of the stage and into the backstage area, where they stopped walking and stood up stiffly to attention. Each Hex Bot awaiting her next command.

None of the stage hands paid any attention to the three mind controlled rockstars, except when one went over to remove Thorn's guitar from around her neck. They all knew what Gus had done to them and whilst at first it had been a bit creepy they'd since all got used to it. The stage hands silence ensured through three ways.

One their pay had increase a nice bit since the girls had been brainwashed. Two the amount they'd make through revealing it to the media wasn't worth losing their excellent current income. And finally three the Hex Girls had, for the most part, been rude and dismissive towards them all too often in the past for their liking. As far as the stage hands were concerned they preferred the three diva goth bitches mind controlled over not being mind controlled. Made their jobs more pleasant and their pay checks fatter, so what was there to complain about?

So instead the three Hex Bots were just left standing to attention, each looking like a weird futuristic statue whilst they waited for their next command.

A few minutes later there next command was received.

"Return to the tour bus Hex Bots." was the command they each heard in their minds at the same time. A command they'd now heard before after many other concerts.

"Yes Manager." said the three Hex Girls emotionlessly, before turning and marching with robotic-esc precision in single file out of the backstage area.

* * *

Gus tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his Hex Bots to return to the tour bus. One of the few flaws of having effectively turned his band into robots was that they were a bit slow, curtesy of their metal outfits. But it was a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

The manager's thoughts were then interupted by the sound of the tour bus's door being opened, and the metallic clank sounds of his Hex Bot's boots hit the floor as they walked. After brushing the curtain separating the driver's cabin of the bus from the rest of it they lined up and stood stiffly to attention in front of Gus, ready for the after show inspection.

Gus didn't even bother speaking to his band as he looked them over. Originally he had when he'd first tricked them into wearing the hypnophones, out of force of habit, but he'd stopped doing that a while ago now. No point talking to someone who wouldn't hear it. So outside of an occasional remark the only time he spoke to his band now was when he issued them an order via his remote control.

Not that he minded the silence much. Compared to the divaistic complaining and whining he'd often put up with in the past this was wonderful by comparison. No more arguments or disagreements getting in the way or holding up decision making, just blind obedience. As far as he was concerned it was an excellent improvement.

Especially in Dusk's case Gus thought as he looked that Hex Bot over. She'd been a right pain in the next before, now she was quite the opposite. Hell by herself she made turning his band into robots worth it.

Of course there were other factors which made it worth it too thought Gus as he looked over Luna. Like how for the first time in a while the band was back to not only being majorly popular, but also majorly profitable. No more bankruptcy looming over his head anymore. And the added factor that given the girls were now robots there wasn't much point in paying them was there? After all what would a robot need money for? Instead he'd given both himself and the stage hands a pay rise. Since being such a good manager he obviously deserved it, Gus thought with chuckle.

He then frowned as he noticed a slight scratch on Thorn's metal hoop skirt as he examined her. Must've happened when one of the stage hands took off her guitar, as it'd happened that way before. Rather annoying, but easy to fix. Would just require a bit of polishing.

Gus then turned and headed over to a cupboard which he opened and rummaged around in. After about half a minute of looking for the metal polish. Must've bene misplaced earlier, he'd have to go ask the stage hands about it. Not before storing his Hex Bots away though.

"Hex Bots return to your storage pods." ordered Gus via his remote before turning and heading out of the tour bus as he heard his band's emotionless response of "Yes Manager."


	5. Chapter 5

A few minutes after the three Hex Bots marched mindlessly into their tour bus Sam, Clover and Alex touched down stealthily in the carpark…well stealthily except for the noise of their jetpacks rocket engines. Then after a quick scan of the local area to make sure they hadn't been spotted the three spies set to work.

"Clover you and will search the tour bus. Alex you recon the backstage, keep an eye out and alert us if you see anyone heading back to the tour bus." ordered Sam whilst her long orange hair blew majestically in the wind.

"Got it Sam." replied Alex, before turning round and took off running towards the concert hall.

"Clover let's go…" began Sam before noticing her blonde companion had already run on ahead.

"Already on it Sam!" yelled back Clover, causing Sam to frown in annoyance before running after her. This was meant to be a stealth mission damn it!

* * *

Alex snuck into the backstage area of the concert hall with ease, thanks to the backdoor helpfully being left unlocked. No stage hands were present on the other side of the door, though Alex could hear their voices up ahead somewhere. The yellow clad young woman crept through the backstage towards the voices, which weren't saying anything of note. Mainly just complaints about their job, or how they were going to go for a pint after they'd finished clearing up.

Then she came across a conveniently placed pile of boxes, which she climbed up to enable her to get onto the overhead catwalks and steel rafters which crisscrossed the backstage and main stage. From her she'd be able to keep an eye on things without any chance of being spotted, thanks to it being almost pitch black up there…though that also meant she'd need to be careful not to misstep in the darkness. And being careful was not something Alex was good at…

"Hey Boss." greeted a stage hand, immediately grabbing Alex's attention. If anyone knew what had happened to the Hex Girls it'd be the stage hand's boss, presumably the band's manager.

"Do any of you know where the metal polish is?" asked the manager, who Alex noted had a rather eccentric style of dress. "I swear I'd left it in the bus, but appears I've misplaced it."

"No problem boss, it's right here." answered another stage hand, holding up the metal polish in question. "Was left here earlier when we polished their outfits before the concert."

"Ah thank you darling." replied the manager as he was handed the tub of metal polish. He then turned on his heel to leave and Alex quickly turned around to follow him. A bit too quick, as in her haste she missteped and slipped off the catwalk she'd been kneeling on.

With a shriek of surprise the yellow clad spy fell to the ground with a thump. Thankfully years of experience and training meant the fall didn't hurt much, though she was left a bit dazed. Unthankfully she'd fallen in between several stage hands and their manager.

"What the fuck?" exclaimed one of the stage hands in surprise.

"Where'd this bitch come from?" asked another stage hand.

"She fell of the catwalk you moron." replied yet another stage hand.

"Why would a chick in a catsuit be up there?" asked a fourth stage hand.

"How the fuck would I know?" retorted the third stage hand.

"To answer your question darlings, it's because she's obviously a spy." commented the manager, exasperated at the exchange before him.

"Oh…that'd make sense." commented the fourth stage hand.

"Yeah it would." added the second stage hand.

"So what do we do with her boss?" asked the first stage hand, just as Alex snapped out of her daze and leapt to her feet. Swiftly moving into a fighting pose.

"I don't really…hey she's getting up" began Gus in aggravation before noticing Alex's sudden movement. "Grab her!

The first stage hand who went to grab the spy was sent flying into another by a swift kick. Unfortunately for Alex that made her unable to react quick enough to being grabbed from behind by another stage hand, leaving her futilely struggling in his grip.

"Got her boss." said the stage hand who had grabbed Alex.

"So you have." commented the manager, his expression showing he was in thought.

"What should we do with the bitch now boss?" asked another stage hand.

"Hmmm." replied the manager, in thought. "Tie her up and dump her somewhere. We'll deal with what to do with her later, I'll think on it for now."

"Got it boss." said the stage hand holding Alex and another one, whom Alex noticed was leering at her with a look she didn't like one bit.

* * *

There was a slight creak as Sam pushed opened the door of the Hex Girls's tour bus, instantly causing her to tense up. Upon seeing that there was no one in the front of the bus (the driver's area) Clover snuck forward into it, Sam following suit whilst shutting the door behind her, this time thankfully without any creaking.

They then moved over to either side of the entrance into the rest of the bus, separated from the front by a mere blood red curtain. Sam then pushed it a little aside and peered into the next room. It was the kitchen/seating area of the tour bus, the lack of a door at the other end allowing her to see all the way to the last room of the bus, the common room. Every section was thankfully empty, causing Sam to relax after the tense entrance.

"Coast is clear." said Sam, causing her blonde companion to noticeably relax in response.

The two spies then pushed past the curtain and entered the rest of the bus, as they explored it Sam took in the aesthetic. Whilst the Hex Girl's outfits and music genre had changed, they certainly hadn't bothered changing their tour bus. The whole thing still matched their former goth aesthetic, dark colours and bat and spider web motifs adorned the inside of the tour bus. Which was odd, as if it was up to the band to change their style surely they'd have remodelled the bus. After all they surely had the cash…

"Oh my gosh!" said Clover in excitement. "It's like all the same."

"Clover what are you doing?" asked Sam, after her train of thought was broken by Clover seemingly freaking out as she examined everything.

"This is like so cool Sam!" said Clover over excitedly. "It's just like it looked in their interviews!"

"Their interviews…" began Sam before getting what the blonde meant. "Clover, this is no time to fangirl. We need to find the Hex Girls."

"Yeah yeah." half acknowledged Clover, obviously not paying attention.

Sam merely sighed and began walking further into the tour bus, passing a gothic looking couch and matching cushions before entering what appeared to be a sleeping area of sorts. Nothing notable here, just more gothic aesthetic and some beds.

"Hey this is different." commented Clover behind her, causing Sam to spin around to face her.

"What is?" asked Sam as she approached her fellow spy.

"This panel wasn't here in their interviews or pictures." answered Clover as she stared at the metallic panel opposite the gothic couch Sam had passed over in her investigation. "There was a whole entertainment setup here. TV, CD player, entertainment systems. Like the whole package."

"So if your memory is right, which given how obsessed you are with the band is pretty likely, then this panel is a newer edition." said Sam, in thought. She then asked "You really sure this panel wasn't here. Like it wasn't here in any of the pictures right up till they ghosted media?" in an attempt to confirm her forming theory.

"Like yeah Sam. I saw everything they put out right up till they went all roboticy." answered Clover, her own expression giving the impression she was having similar thoughts to Sam. "This panel definitely wasn't here."

"So it's a bit of remodelling which would have been done after their music style and genre change, and after they completely ghosted social media. Yet nothing else was remodelled." said Sam, speaking her thoughts aloud.

"You thinking what I'm thinking." said Clover, with a knowing smile.

"Yep." replied Sam. "This panel's hiding something."

"Well we better get it down then." said Clover, having taken out her hair dryer gadget as she spoke. With a quick press of a button it change and a drill bit popped and replaced the end air would usually come out of.

"Right on it." agreed Sam repeating the same motion with her own hair dryer gadget. The two catsuit clad spies then headed to work, activating the drills and drilling around the sides of the panelling, aiming to dislodge it from the wall. Each spy quietly thankful the tour bus had been empty, as if it hadn't been anyone occupying it they had stealthy around would have easily been altered by the loud sounds of the drills. The drills combined with their jetpacks really weren't good for the whole being sneaky now that Sam thought about it.

Regardless after about two minutes of drilling the panel was dislodged from the wall, each spy jumping out of the way with a "Eek!" as the panel fell to the ground with a crash where they'd been formerly standing.

Turns out they'd been right. Not only was the panel a newer piece of remodelling, but it was also hiding something. And that something was quite the eerie sight.

Before them were three glasslike tubes, the tops and bottoms of which appeared to emit an eerie light blue glow. Standing stiffly to attention in the tubes were the Hex Girls, their metallic outfits shinying in the blue glow. They looked like sci-fi themed dolls in their cases.

The expression on each of their faces was completely neutral, no emotion to be spotted. Well from what Sam could see anyway, as only the Hex Girl's mouths could be seen. Their eyes were completely hidden from view by their opaque visors. It was a bit inhuman, being able to see most of someone's face but not their eyes.

All in all the scene before them freaked both spies out a bit, as shown by their silence upon discovering it. However they'd encountered weirder things in their careers as spies before, as such they got over it quickly.

"Yeah, this like so wasn't here before." commented Clover.

* * *

"Ugh!" grunted Alex as a her arms were tied tightly behind her back. "Oww that hurt you bastard!"

"Heh that's chicks got quite the mouth." commented a stage hand with a chuckle. "Don't you know it's unladylike to speak like that?" Causing the two other stage hands helping to tie her up to laugh.

"Oh screw off." replied Alex, both annoyed and embarrassed at her current situation.

"Oh don't worry, we'll be doing that shortly." commented another stage hand as he picked up an old rag which had been lying around the backstage. "Just have to do this first." The stage hand then quickly shoved the rag into Alex's mouth as she was about to make a retort, followed up by taping a bit of duct tape firmly over her mouth. The spy's glare intensified at this, as she struggled in vain to dislodge the tape. First tied up, now gagged. Could this situation get any worse?

"Anyway you two go dump her in a cupboard somewhere for now, the boss will figure out what to do with her later." ordered the stage hand who gagged Alex to the other stage hands present.

"Got it." replied the stage hand who had been leering at Alex, before he picked the still struggling spy up and carried her off further into the darkness of the backstage.

* * *

"Yeah, this like so wasn't here before." commented Clover.

"What's it meant to be?" asked Sam, more to herself than her fellow spy. "Just a way to hide them? Storage?"

"Recharging maybe." suggested Clover as she leant in for a closer look at the tubes and statuesque Hex Girls, earning an odd look from Sam. "Well they are all roboticy. Needing to recharge is something robots do Sam."

"Clover they aren't really robots." replied Sam, shooting down her catsuited companions suggestion as she too leant in to have a look at the tubes. "They're probably just under mind control or something. You know…the usual."

"Oh please Sam, you're so unimaginative." retorted Clover.

"Best way to find out would be to open these tubes and have a closer look at the Hex Girls." said Sam, after a few seconds passed in silence as the two spies examined the tubes.

"Problem is there so doesn't appear to be a way to open or remove the tubes." replied Clover. "Like there's no buttons, levers or switches."

"Well I guess we'll just to drill them out." said Sam as she reached for her hair dryer. "Just be careful, we don't want to hurt the Hex Girls. Jerry would be so pissed."

"So would I!" added Clover, earning a laugh from both spies.

"What are you doi…more bloody spies!" suddenly exclaimed an annoyed and confused voice to the side of them. "And vandals at that!"

Sam turned her head to see just that the owner of the voice was just the person Sam needed to answer their questions. The Hex Girl's manager, Gus Boggs.

"Like what the hell did you do to the Hex Girls you creep?" asked Clover accusingly, wasting no time upon seeing the band's manager.

"Yeah you have quite the bit of explaining to do." added Sam, pointing accusing at Gus as she did so.

The band manager then seemed to recover from his initial surprise at finding two more spies in his band's tour bus as he quickly recomposed himself and pulled a remote out of his pocket.

"Hey! Don't move!" ordered Sam, about to run towards and disarm, well so to speak, Gus.

"Hex Bots, activate." ordered Gus quickly, before hitting another two buttons on his remote. Suddenly there was a whoosh-like sound, causing Sam to stop in her tracks in surprise/distraction and look with Clover back towards the tubes containing the Hex Girls just in time to see the tubes quickly descend into the floor. Followed up by each of the Hex Girls jolting slightly, as if they'd suddenly been shoke awake.

"Yes Manager." said the Hex Girls after waking up, their voices completely and eerily emotionless.

"Dusk and Luna grab those spies!" ordered Gus quickly, whilst the two spies were distracted.

"Yes Manager." droned Dusk and Luna, before moving surprisingly quickly for to girl's almost entirely encased in metal. They easily grabbed and restrained Sam and Clover, their metallic arms squeezing around them and keeping the spies arms firmly at their sides.

"Ugh Dusk Luna let us go!" demanded Clover, struggling in vain against the tight grip Dusk held her in.

"Afraid they won't be doing that chicklet. See unless it's something spoken into this remote the girls can't hear you." explained Gus as he held up the remote, obviously pleased at how easily he had resolved the situation. "Ever so unfortunately for you they've been programmed that way."

"What the hell do you mean?" inquired Sam as she to struggled against the grip Luna held her in.

"I mean they're under mind control darling." replied the band manager.

"Told you it was mind control." said Sam with a small smirk to Clover, earning an annoyed huff in response.

"You see those headphones they're wearing aren't just fabulous a retro fashion statement. They're devices called hypnophones, and keep my Hex Girls in a perpetual state of hypnotic trance." said Gus as he continued his explanation. He then raised the remote again and ordered "Thorn come and stand next to me."

"Yes Manager." respond Thorn, before she slowly walked over and stood next to her controller. Gus then reached up and removed the red one-sided opaque visor from Thorn's hypnophones, revealing her glassy blank green eyes beneath it.

"As you can see here by my lovely lead singer's eyes there's not a single thought in her little mind." continued Gus sounding rather pleased with himself, whilst Thorn stared blankly forward at nothing. "Visor's not part of it, just helps hide their eyes from view, and goes well with the whole retro robot look."

"So why did you do it?" asked Sam, now glaring back at the band manager. As someone who'd be mind controlled a handful of…ok a lot of times herself villains mind controlling people was something which especially pissed her off.

"The same reason people do anything, money darling." answered Gus as he put the remote back in his pocket. "Goth rocks gone out and space disco is in. May be a fad but that doesn't change the fact it's profitable. I tried to get the girls here to at least change genre for a brief while but they continued to refuse. The band was barely turning a profit with people flooding instead to space disco concerts. Both the finances and the Hex Girls themselves were headed down the rabbit hole if drastic action wasn't taken soon."

"So your response was to hypnotise your band and effectively turn them into robots." commented Clover with a perplexed eyebrow. "Not exactly what I would've picked."

"Well it worked, profits are back up high and the Hex Girls are back at the top of the charts again. Can't argue with results chicklet." replied Gus. "Especially when they come with the added bonus of having these three goth divas becoming far more unargumentative and more cooperative than they used to be. I personally prefer mindless retro robot girls to bitchy whiny goth girls myself, but everyone has different tastes." continued Gus with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Anyway now that the explanations are over and done with now it brings us back to the matter at hand." said Gus. "What should I do with you two pesky spies?"

* * *

After about a minute or so of being carried Alex was dumped unceremoniously on the floor, causing her to let out a yelp at the sudden impact. Though thanks to the gag it came out more as an ummph noise. She felt sick having the random rag stuck in her mouth, it tasted disgusting.

The stage hand who'd been carried her then turned on a light, revealing that she'd been dumped in a storage room. Boxes were piled up around the room along with spare equipment lying amongst them. There was only one way in via the same door she been carried through.

Her situation was not looking good. She was tied up, gagged and there was only one way to exit the room, which unfortunately could be easily blocked. There was a single positive to her situation though. Due to all her struggling the ropes binding her arms and legs had shown signs of loosening. Thankfully the stage hands hadn't had too much experience with tying someone up before. She'd be able to eventually loosen the ropes enough to get them off, all she needed was for the stage hand who brought her there to leave.

Only one small problem. He hadn't left.

Instead he was leering at her rather lustfully.

"So just the two of us now sweetheart." said the stage hand as he walked over toward Alex. Then he crouched down over her legs and reached out towards her, beginning to run his hands up along her catsuit clad body. Which intensified Alex's struggling even more as she glared at the perverted stage hand.

"Feisty little thing aren't you." he commented as his hands reached her breasts, and began groping them through the catsuit. At which point Alex's glare changed to an outright death glare, as she attempted to call him a fucking perverted bastard by it merely came out as a couple muffled unidentifiable noises thanks to her gag. Thankfully though as she continued to struggle she felt the ropes binding her arms behind her back loosening.

The stage hand's left hand then moved up to her neck and took hold of the zip of her catsuit, before beginning to pull it down, slowly and methodically with a perverted smirk on his face.

At that moment Alex felt the ropes behind her arms loosen, and mostly slip off and onto the floor behind her. This being unnoticed by the perverted stage hand, his attention fully on slowly pulling down the zip of the yellow catsuit.

What was noticed by the stage hand however was the swift kick he received between the legs, causing him to lurch back a bit as he groaned in pain. His momentary shock at the sudden kick given Alex just enough time to bring her arms back from behind her back and deliver a swift karate chop to his neck, sending the pervert falling to the floor and into unconsciousness. Equally swiftly following it up by zipping her catsuit back up.

Barely sparing him a look Alex set to work both ungagging herself and untying her legs, the process taking little time owing to past experience and training. Before leaping to her feet. She was tempted to tie the stage hand up to subdue him and prevent him alerting the other stage hands, but with how deeply unconscious he was that'd just be wasting time, he wouldn't be waking up any time soon. She had to go alert Sam and Clover that Gus was heading back to the tour bus, as just as it was tempting to issue some sort of retaliation on the stage hand instead.

With one last disgusted look back at the stage hand Alex left the storage room, locking it behind her before dashing off towards the tour bus.


	6. Chapter 6

"Anyway now that the explanations are over and done with now it brings us back to the matter at hand." said Gus. "What should I do with you two pesky spies?"

"Let us go perhaps." suggested Clover a bit sarcastically.

"Now I couldn't be doing that darling." replied Gus with a chuckle. "After all you discovered my little secret. Can't have you running to the tabloids, and of course the police about me effectively turning my band into robots. Quite the bad press that would be."

"So what are you going to do with us then?" asked Sam, having given up her futile attempts at struggling free and now aiming to stall for time.

"Who knows eh? If I had more sets of hypnophones I suppose I could turn you into backup singers, or if you couldn't sing well backup dancers, for the band." said Gus, tapping his chin in thought. "But alas I don't, and anyway the Hex Girls are doing fine without needing backup."

Sam was about to issue a retort, but stopped herself as she noticed Alex push her way past the curtain that led into the bus. Her finger to her lips in a shushing motion as she crept towards Gus.

"Or perhaps, given you two are rather fetching in the looks department I could simply sell you." suggested Gus, fairly nonchalant about the topic. "Not entirely sure on the specifics of doing that, but I'm sure I could find some sheikh or oligath somewhere who would be very happy to purchase you girls. Would get you out of the way and net me some nice bucks."

The band manager looked like he was about to continue when there was a thwack sound as Alex kicked him in the back of the head, knocking Gus out as he slumped to the ground. Followed up by Alex hitting the ground too as she lost her balance and fell down on top of the manager, her expression sheepish at messing up at the end of what would've otherwise been an impressive ending stance.

Throughout it none of the Hex Girls moved or acknowledged the action which had taken place before them, still standing perfectly still like futuristic statues.

"Nice kick there Alex." both praised and teased Sam.

"Uh yeah. Now it'd be so just great if you released us." said Clover, with a brief struggle to emphasize her point.

"Sure thing! Just umm…how exactly?" asked Alex in confusion as she stood up.

"He has a remote Alex, should be in one of his pockets." explained and answered Sam. "That allows you to command the Hex Girls."

"And issue the order to Dusk and Luna." added Clover as Alex rummaged through Gus's pockets. "Since it may need you to be specific."

"Found it!" declared Alex as she stood up with the remote in hand triumphantly. Her expression and tone then changed to one of confusion when she asked "So which button do I press? None of them are labelled."

"I think it was the blue one." answered Sam, after briefly searching her memory.

"Well here does nothing." said Alex, before issuing the order as she pressed the blue button "Dusk and Luna, let go of Sam and Alex."

And nothing happened.

"Huh?" said Alex. "Wrong button I guess?"

"Nah it was definitely the blue one." said Clover.

"It's probably since you told them to release us by name. They don't know our names Alex, so they didn't obey the command since it didn't make sense to them." explained Sam in frustration. "Just do it again but more general."

"Oh, sorry guys." replied Alex sheepishly, before issuing the command again "Dusk and Luna, let of the girls you're holding."

This time the command worked, with the two mind controlled musicians instantly releasing Sam and as soon as the command was received. After doing so their arms returned to their sides, standing to attention like the mindless robots they effectively were still.

"Thanks Alex." said Clover as both her and Sam stretched, feeling a bit of an arch after being held so tightly for so long.

"Now we know what's up it's time to call Jerry." said Sam as she took out her compowder and prepared to call their boss. "Did you find anything in the concert hall to report on Alex?"

"Yeah some totally rude stage hands who are definitely in on the whole mind control thing." answered Alex. "I got caught, briefly, and one tried to molest me!"

"Woah say what?" replied Clover, a bit shocked.

"Ok I'll go report to Jerry and have him send agents over to help arrest the stage hands." said Sam, authority in her voice. "You two get those hypnophones off the Hex Girls."

The redhead then headed further into the bus to report to their boss whilst Clover and Alex attempted to take the hypnophones of Dusk and Thorn, only to swiftly discover the hypnophones appeared to be stuck to the Hex Girls's heads. They wouldn't budge an inch. Same for Luna's hypnophones too when Clover tried to pull off as well.

"What's with that?" asked Clover. "It's like they're glued on or something."

"Or suction cups." suggested Alex as she went to lean against the wall, before slipping over and falling down by the tubes the Hex Girls had formerly being stored in.

"Oww." complained Alex in a whiny voice. Before her eyes lit up. "Hey look at this."

"What is it? What did you find?" asked Clover.

"A note book." said Alex as she stood up, notebook in hand. "Looks like had been chucked behind those weird tubes at some point. And looks what's written inside it."

The yellow clad spy then held the manual up to Clover who grinned once she read the words in it and realised what the notebook was.

"It's a manual for the hypnophones!" exclaimed Clover. "Now we can figure out how to get them off the Hex Girl's heads!"

"Yep." replied Alex, proud at having found the vital item.

"Great job Alex. For once your clumsiness came in use." praised Sam as she rentered their area of the bus.

"So guess its reading time then." said Clover unenthusiastically, before the three spies began pouring over the notebook, looking for an explanation to how the hypnophones worked.

It took a few minutes, but eventually the three spies found the explanation they wanted. According to the notebook pressing the white button on the remote would program whoever wore the hypnophones, taking around half an hour to do so. However if pressed again it would deprogram the wearers, and when fully deprogrammed the hypnophones would automatically release themselves from the wearers head.

"Oh, so that's pretty simple then." commented Alex, upon reading the explanation.

"Well no time to waste then girls." said Sam. "Alex just hit the white button on the remote."

"Right!" said Alex, before the realisation dawned on her that she'd dropped the remote when she had slipped over. "Umm just a sec Sam." she said sheepishly before she knelt down and looked for the remote.

"Ugh come on Alex." said Sam as she tapped her foot, impatient at her fellow spy's antics.

"Got it!" declared Alex as she jumped to her feet, remote in hand.

"Well hit the button then." said Clover, impatient.

Alex then hit the white button on the remote as ordered. Nothing happened at first, then the three spies yet out an "Eek!" as the Hex Girls startled them by briefly shaking suddenly as if they'd just received an electric shock. Then there was nothing.

"So what now?" asked Alex in the response to the rather uneventful result.

"Duh we wait." replied Clover before yawning. The late night mission was taking its toll on the blonde.

"By the time it's done the agents should have arrived." commented Sam. "Then we'll be wrapping this mission up."

* * *

About half an hour later…

* * *

All of a sound there was three pop sounds, startling the three spies who'd been waiting around for the hypnophones to deprogram the Hex Girls.

Thorn was the first to come out of hypnotic trance, easily noticeable thanks to the visor being taken off her hypnophones earlier. Her green eyes stopped being glassy and blank, with her blinking a few times as she shoke her head as her eyes returning to their normal piercing nature.

Dusk and Luna were both second, though because of their visors the only noticeable change was them shaking their heads in a similar fashion to how Thorn did.

"Ugh, what happened?" asked Thorn as she looked around in confusion. "I have such a pounding headache."

"Yeah how come we're over here? We were on the couches in the back of the bus." asked Dusk, equally confused. "And why's everything got a green hue to it."

"And why are we wearing different outfits?" added Thorn, having noticed her unusual attire. "We weren't wearing these earlier…were we?"

"Nah we weren't." replied Dusk, still confused. "And ugh my feet are killing me. These high heels are a bitch."

"You mean the whole outfit is. It weighs a ton." replied Thorn, her face showing signs of fatigue.

"It was these headphones, they mind controlled us." answered Luna as she took off her hypnophones, or rather threw them to the ground. "I remember now, I resisted slightly longer than you too did."

"Wait…what?" asked Thorn, still very confused. She then appeared to notice the spies. "And who are you three?"

"Luna's right, you three were mind controlled by your manager, Gus Boggs." said Sam as she stepped in to give an explanation to the poor confused goth girls. "Those headphones you were wearing was how he did it."

"Why the fuck would he do that?" asked Dusk angrily, as she took her hypnophones off and threw them on the ground so hard that they broke in two.

"Best way he could think of to get you to change to the space disco genre." answered Clover. "And of course meant he would be making a lot more money, given he could take your share of the profits from concerts instead."

"That too." said Sam, before continuing her explanation. "As for who we are, well let's just say we were sent by a certain agency who had noticed something sinister appeared to be a foot with how sudden the change to your band was."

"Oh…ok." replied Thorn, still obviously a bit confused. It was a lot for her to take in.

"How long were we, you know under mind control?" asked Luna, appearing to be recovering quicker than the other two Hex Girls.

"Roughly two years." answered a new voice which Sam and her fellow spies immediately recognised as they turned to see Jerry entering the bus. "I'm sorry to say we didn't notice and act sooner, but rest assured those responsible we be held to account."

"Two years…Jesus Christ!" exclaimed Dusk, her eyes wide in shock. Her fellow Hex Girls's expressions mirroring hers.

"Anyway excellent work ladies." praised Jerry as he turned to face his three spies. "You put a stop to this sinister mind control conspiracy very efficiently. Your fellow agents are rounding up the complicit stage hands as we speak. All which is left to do now is arrest Mr. Boggs and give the Hex Girls a proper debriefing and check over and then we'll be done."

Right on time the Hex Girls's soon to be former manager began to regain consciousness.

"Ugh my head." said Gus, as he began to come to. "What the bloody hell happened?"

"Ah Mr. Boggs. I'm here to inform you that you're now effectively immediately under arrest, for the crime of…" began Jerry, before being interupted by a red and black pair of hypnophones getting thrown at the band manager he had been about to arrest.

"You bastard! How could you do this to us?" asked Thorn angrily as she stormed over to where Gus lay, flanked by her fellow Hex Girls. "After all we've been through!"

"Yeah you fucker!" added Dusk even more angrily. "That's so fucked up!"

"After you've been with us so long you'd do that to us! How could you?" added Luna angrily, though with distress also clear in her voice.

"Now now girls. I assure you there were perfect valid reason as to why I…" began Gus in a feeble attempt to justify his actions to the three extremely pissed off goth rockstars who were now towering over him.

"Valid reasons my foot!" interupted Dusk as she delivered a kick to their manager in anger.

"Yeah how the hell do you think mind controlling us can be valid at all!" yelled Thorn as she too kicked Gus. "You absolute fucking bastard!"

"I can't believe how much of a greedy monster you are!" yelled Luna as she also delivered a kick.

The three furious Hex Girls then continued kicking their manager, angrily yelling both insults and other comments at him as they did so. Gus attempting to either justify himself or apologises in between yelps of pain.

"Ladies I understand you're angry, but that's no way to deal with things." said Jerry calmly as he came over and took hold of Thorn's and Dusk's arms in an attempt to calm thing down. "Mr. Boggs here where I assure you he'll face full…"

"Shove off old man!" interupted Dusk as she shoved Jerry off her arm.

"Yeah fuck off!" added Thorn as she too shoved Jerry off her porcelain arm. "This fucker deserves it!"

The three spies standing off to the scene unfolding couldn't help but laugh as they watched their boss fail to calm the wrath of the three furious rockstars. Jerry was quite out of his element, his usual calm and cool demeanour vanishing as he became rather flustered at losing control of the situation.

"Well whilst I can't argue with you there Thornhe does have rights, and as an agent of…" feebly began Jerry once again.

"So? Don't care!" yelled Luna in reply.

"Yeah we're the Hex Girls!" yelled Dusk defiantly as she kicked Gus in the ribs.

"And we don't need your fucking approval!" added Thorn defiantly.


End file.
